I want to start off with talking about something that I learned from my Bishop at church yesterday. Have you all had the chance to read or listen to the talk by Jeffrey R. Holland from last General Conference entitled "The First and Great Commandment"? If not or if you would like to see it again(and I would highly recommend this) here is the link: The First Great Commandment . Elder Holland speaks of how Peter and some of the other apostles go back to fishing right after Jesus Christ is crucified thinking that it was finished and that their work in the ministry was done with Christ "working out our salvation". And this after they had received so many witnesses and have been such great friends and helpers of the Savior, they figured it was time to go back to their "old lives" and old habits. When they were not experiencing any luck with catching fish a man called to them from the shore to cast their nets on the other side, and so they did and the catch of the fish was so great that they could not even bring it in. When they realized that the man on the shore was the Savior and they went to Him, Jesus proceeded to question the head apostle Peter as to whether Peter loved the Him or not. I think that we all know the rest of the story from here. Now the question is, how does this apply to our lives? Like Peter do we tell the Lord "Yay Lord, I love Thee" yet we still have "fish" in our life that take us away from the Savior and His plan for us. This lesson really hit home for me because I was thinking about how in a short time I will be returning home from my time as a full-time missionary. Like Peter I have worked along side the Savior in His vineyard and I have experienced indescribable joy and happiness and I have seen the miracles that only the power of God could bring forth, yet I want to be unlike Peter in how he chose to go back to his old life and to his "fish". I know that the work here on earth does not only apply to the full time missionaries. In fact Peter and the other apostles had even more of a duty to fulfill after the death of the Savior. I know that as a missionary I wear this name badge on my chest where the name of the Savior Jesus Christ is written so it is hard for me to forget that I am one of His disciples and ministers here on the earth. Just as it was when the Savior was not longer in the presences of His apostles, I know that I too am coming close to the time when I am going to have to remember the importance of being a member of the church without the daily reminder of his name over my heart. I have found peace in the knowledge that He "will not leave me comfortless" when thoughts of fear and uncertainty have entered into my heart when I think about the time when I will return home. I know that all will be well and I am so thankful that the Lord is so aware of my needs that He would give me such real comfort in a time discomfort. All will be well.
A little update on our investigator Victor: he has not gone back to smoking so he is still on the right track for his baptism on April 13th! He and his wife came to church yesterday and I could tell that he just loved it. The old church that he used to go to was one of those churches where the people say things like "amen!" and "yes Jesus!" so he was doing a bit of that all throughout the meetings :D. They also brought their friend who is not a member. His name is Jimmy. How in the world can I describe Jimmy...well Jimmy is an tall, skinny, older black man with only one or two teeth and a bald head. He is a nice person. He may have put his arm around my companion...okay he did. When I noticed that his arm was around her and she was totally squirming out of discomfort I gave him a look and after a minute he put his arm down...now get this; THEN I put my arm around her and my hand was dangling down on the other side of her next to him and the guy goes to try and hold my hand!!! I let out a little yelp and ripped my hand away and he just laughed! This all occurred during our combined Relief Society and Priesthood class. Needless to say we will NOT be teaching Jimmy. We will give him to the elders. Only in Kaw River ward...
Last night we had a really great experience with this family that we have been trying to get in to teach. I know that my companion and I were led to their home because when we got their the Mom, Toni, was SO happy to see us. They are going through a bit of a rough time and we had such a great talk with them. The husband is from Mexico and Toni is from the States so it was for sure a Spanglish conversation but that's okay because I kind of like Spanglish every now and then. They brought out their guitar and my companion told them that I play so they would not stop bugging me until I played them something. The guitar was really out of tune but they insisted that I still play so I sang "Amazing Grace" for them. The Spirit was so strong after that and Toni had tears in her eyes. We are going back to teach them tonight and we are REALLY excited. I love how much the Lord guides us as missionaries.
I love the warm weather!!!! Things are going so well here! This last week I was able to go on an exchange with the Overland Park sisters. I had the newest sister, Sister Shwarz again, come to be here in Kaw River. It was quite a bit of a shock for her. We had to ride the bus because we did not have the car and this black guy on the bus with a nice gold grill was sitting really close to Sister Shwarz and kept moving closer and the look on her face told me that she was WAY uncomfortable. I then proceeded to ask the dear man to please move out of her personal space. This made him angry and he gave us back the pass along card that we had given to him and he said some other choice words. When we finally got off of the bus Sister Shwarz eyes were huge and I think she was ready to go back to Overland Park. Ha ha, I know that she learned a lot and got to experience something different. There is nothing in the world like KCK. I love it.
I also love you all! Church policy has changed and I now can email friends as well as family so email me if you have time...
les quiero mucho!
Hermana Thorne
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